Powrót książek "zakazanych" do współczesnych odbiorców : (wybrane zagadnienia)

Abstract

The book presents works for children and teenagers that were „forbidden” by censorship in the period of Polish People’s Republic. Unfortunately, the first public libraries created after the end of the World War II did not help. They collected all works that were saved from the war conflagration, but were attacked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding a withdrawal of certain books, namely religious, “borderland”, and scout ones connected with the legions or Józef Piłsudski as early as from the beginning of the 1950s. Thus, the libraries were given whole series of lists of works to be eliminated. An attempt was made to eliminate the literature for children, teenagers, but also the ones addressed at adult readers. As a result of the very actions, a lot of titles that should constitute the Polish heritage, were excluded from the reading circulation. These were the most popular books of the inter‑war period written by Zofia Kossak, Bronisława Ostrowska, Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Zofia Rogoszówna, Helena Zakrzewska, Zofia Żurakowska, etc. The system transformation and political changes after 1989 made it possible to abolish censorship. Therefore, the “unwanted’ works come back in the 1990s. However, on the basis of the studies on reading and reception, it was proven that the books written by the writers in question are unknown to teenagers these days. The irreversible consequences the very situation brings nowadays, including ahistoricality, were also mentioned. According to the author of the book, making a Polish reader aware of this situation is very important because it returns him/her a part of his/ her native culture.